COOKEVILLE – It may not have featured the same kind of offensive output, but Thursday’s Division II-AA state championship between Montgomery Bell Academy and Ensworth was every bit as exciting as their regular-season overtime thriller.
The Big Red, which allowed 50 points in the first meeting, forced four turnovers and limited Ensworth to just one touchdown Thursday, securing a 10-7 victory and the school’s first state championship since 2007.
“This is the best feeling,” said MBA linebacker T.J. Jefferson, who finished with a team-leading eight tackles. “I wouldn’t trade these guys for anything. It’s just a surreal feeling. I can’t describe it.”
Montgomery Bell Academy’s Michael Lacey gains yards against Ensworth in the BlueCross Bowl DII-AA state championship game at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville on Thursday.
The four-time defending champion Tigers pulled to within three on Darius Morehead’s 1-yard touchdown run with 9:18 remaining, but Quin Cochran’s potential game-tying, 27-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds sailed wide right.
“We try not to define ourselves by the score on the board,” Ensworth coach Ricky Bowers said. “It’s hard not to when you lose.”
MBA’s offense got off to a quick start, picking up three quick first downs, but quarterback Cole Euverard was picked off deep in Tigers territory. Ensworth’s P.J. Settles returned the favor, though, tossing an interception on his first pass attempt of the game — one of four turnovers for the 6-foot, 180-pound senior.
“You always preach getting turnovers and today they turned the ball over,” Jefferson said. “We just happened to capitalize on a couple of them.”
The Big Red turned it over on downs on its third possession, but MBA seized a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on Euverard’s 3-yard touchdown pass to teammate Ty Chandler, capping a nine-play, 56-yard scoring drive.
Euverard, the game’s offensive Most Valuable Player, finished with 161 yards from scrimmage, while sophomore running back Ty Chandler churned out 77 yards on 17 carries.
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Ensworth, which managed 277 yards and just seven first downs, turned it over twice more before halftime — both fumbles by Settles.
“I thought we played hard,” Bowers said. “We just didn’t play well.”
MBA kicker Davis Luster stretched his team’s lead to 10-0 early in the third quarter, connecting on a 27-yard field goal, but the Tigers marched 75 yards on the ensuing drive, finding the end zone for the first time on Morehead’s run up the middle.
Morehead finished with 49 yards on 19 carries.
On Ensworth’s final drive, Settles hooked up with senior Rico McGraw in the end zone on what appeared to be the game-winning touchdown pass, but the play was negated by an ineligible receiver call against senior Thomas Freeland, setting up Cochran’s last-second field goal attempt.
MBA’s Luke Bullock, the game’s defensive MVP, finished with three tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.
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